StarChild Question of the Month for April 2003

Question:

What causes fireballs in the sky?

Answer:

Fireballs were much in the news over the past month due to a big one
that was seen in the Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana areas around local
midnight on March 26 - 27, 2003. The fireball streaked across the sky and
exploded in a bright flash. But just what causes the fireball, and how
often do they occur?

Fireballs are really just big meteors - the result of meteoroids
falling into the Earth's atmosphere and burning up. The rock that caused
the "Chicago Fireball", as the March 2003 event has been called, was
probably a small space rock about 1 or 2 meters wide. As it fell into
the atmosphere, it heated up and eventually broke up into about 500
fragments. These fragments fell to the ground striking houses, cars, and
roads -- but no people.

Fireballs and meteors are common events. An object about one meter
in diameter or larger strikes Earth's atmosphere about 40 times per year.
Few are seen, however, because the fireballs usually appear over
unpopulated areas rather than over major cities like Chicago.

This photograph shows one of the meteorites which survived the "Chicago
Fireball".